Wotherspoon, George.

George Wotherspoon was a theatrical and motion picture publicist, theatrical manager, stage critic, and journalist.

George Wotherspoon began his theatrical career in 1889, when he managed the Australian and European tour of LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. He was a published critic as early as 1887, and in the summer 1895 he began a daily column for the New York Evening Telegram. In 1899 he began a five-year stint with the New York Evening Journal as reporter and drama editor. Wotherspoon's involvement in motion pictures began as early as 1899, when he promoted a film depicting the Tom Sharkey-Jim Jeffries boxing match. In 1911, he promoted an experimental "Kinemacolor" film of the coronation of King George V. For several years, beginning in 1904, Wotherspoon was a press agent for the Dreamland and Luna Park attractions at Coney Island. From 1917 to 1920, he worked as reporter, columnist, drama critic, and writer of feature stories for the New York Evening Telegram. Throughout this period he also acted as press agent for motion pictures such as CLEOPATRA (1917) starring Theda Bara, D. W. Griffith's ORPHANS OF THE STORM (1921), and Cecil B. DeMille's KING OF KINGS (1927). Wotherspoon continued to act as manager and advance man for stage shows through the 1920s, and, in the waning days of vaudeville, managed units of players who would perform in motion picture theaters prior to the showing of the film.

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